NATO's 75th Anniversary: Allied Maritime Power Conference

I was delighted to speak at yesterday’s Royal United Services Institute ‘NATO 75th Anniversary: Allied Maritime Power Conference’ at HMS President, London, celebrating 75 years of NATO and part of the Sea Power series, which Capita co-sponsored.

A packed agenda unpicked some of the significant challenges we, the democracies of the world face and how NATO has stood up to them and how it continues to maintain and strengthen our conventional maritime forces as part of a strong conventional deterrence, now and in the coming years. This critical role of maritime forces, in an increasingly unstable world, and how this is delivered was explored in the light of the new theatres of operation such as the Baltic and Black Seas and with operations taking place in the grey zone, sub-threshold now the new normal.

When it comes to the vital component of how our people deliver operational advantage, we discussed the need for agility and I shared the success of the strategic, collaborative and entrepreneurial approach taken by the Royal Navy and a 12-year training transformation programme - within Selborne - we’ve led for the last three years. The battle for talent, skills pipeline and upskilling is one that affects the military and entire defence industry and my co-panellists Andy Young and Nicola Longland, BAE Systems shared their views on how we can better manage the evolving need for skills.

A fascinating day with closing remarks from First Sea Lord Sir Ben Key , reminding us that our trust and collaboration, sharing the best of our ideas, is what drives the strength of our partnership with the Royal Navy .

?David Hook CBE

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